Trump petitions Supreme Court to delay TikTok sale amid shifting stance on big tech

President-elect Donald Trump has filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to postpone the forced sale of TikTok by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to a U.S.-based buyer. The request, filed Friday, argues for an extension of the January 19 deadline to allow the incoming administration to explore a political resolution to the matter, according to court filings.

“In light of the novelty and difficulty of this case, the court should consider staying the statutory deadline to grant more breathing space to address these issues,” Trump’s legal team stated in the brief.

The January 19 deadline, set under the Trump administration’s earlier efforts, comes just one day before his inauguration as president. Trump’s team described the delay as critical to providing his administration with “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution.”

Trump’s approach to TikTok marks a significant departure from his first term, during which he was a vocal critic of the platform. Citing national security concerns, Trump alleged the app could allow the Chinese government to access U.S. user data or manipulate content — allegations denied by ByteDance and Beijing.

In 2020, the Trump administration mandated the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to American companies, but negotiations with firms like Oracle and Walmart stalled, leaving the mandate unresolved.

Recently, however, Trump has expressed a newfound support for TikTok, citing its role in countering monopolistic practices by major U.S.-based tech companies like Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

“Now [that] I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition. If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram — and that’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg,” Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg, referring to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Despite the shift in his public statements, Trump’s legal filing clarifies that the president-elect is not taking a position on the legal merits of the divestment order itself.

“President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute,” attorney John Sauer wrote in the brief. “Instead, he respectfully requests that the court consider staying the act’s deadline for divestment … thus permitting President Trump’s incoming Administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution.”